I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 385 

To amend chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, to require the Director 

of the Office of Management and Budget to annually submit to Congress 

a report on all disaster-related assistance provided by the Federal Government. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 14, 2015 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. ISRAEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, to 

require the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget to annually submit to Congress a report on all 

disaster-related assistance provided by the Federal Government. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disclosing Aid Spent 

5 to Ensure Relief Act’’ or the ‘‘DISASTER Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) At a time of constrained budgets, it is fis2 cally prudent to understand the amount and the 

3 scope of the Federal Government’s involvement in 

4 providing disaster-related assistance to communities 

5 in need. 

6 (2) The Federal Government does not provide 

7 a single, publicly available estimate of the amount it 

8 is spending on disaster-related assistance. 

9 (3) Because recovery is a long-term process, 

10 providing disaster-related assistance requires signifi11 cant Federal resources to support a multi-agency, 

12 multi-year restoration of infrastructure and com13 merce in affected communities. 

14 (4) Understanding the expenditures of indi15 vidual Federal agencies for disaster-related assist16 ance will help better inform the congressional appro17 priations process, as well as presidential budget re18 quests. 

19 (5) Knowledge about disaster-related expenses 

20 will illustrate opportunities for reducing these ex21 penses through efforts to reduce vulnerabilities to 

22 future natural disasters. 

23 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

24 The purpose of this Act is to require the Director 

25 of the Office of Management and Budget to annually subVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:03 Jan 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385

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1 mit to Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance 

2 provided by the Federal Government. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF DISASTER-RELATED ASSISTANCE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 31, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘§ 1126. Reporting of disaster-related assistance 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—On the same day that the Presi9 dent makes the annual budget submission to the Congress 

10 under section 1105(a) for a fiscal year, the Director of 

11 the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 

12 Congress a report on Federal disaster-related assistance 

13 for the fiscal year ending in the calendar year immediately 

14 preceding the calendar year in which the annual budget 

15 submission is made. Disaster-related assistance encom16 passes Federal obligations related to disaster response, re17 covery, and mitigation efforts, as well as administrative 

18 costs associated with these activities, including spending 

19 by the following agencies and programs: 

20 ‘‘(1) Department of Agriculture: 

21 ‘‘(A) Agriculture Research Service. 

22 ‘‘(B) Farm Service Agency. 

23 ‘‘(C) Food and Nutrition Service. 

24 ‘‘(D) Natural Resource Conservation Serv25 ice. 


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1 ‘‘(E) Forest Service. 

2 ‘‘(F) Rural Housing Service. 

3 ‘‘(G) Rural Utilities Service. 

4 ‘‘(2) Department of Commerce: 

5 ‘‘(A) National Marine Fisheries Service of 

6 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin7 istration. 

8 ‘‘(B) Economic Development Administra9 tion Economic Adjustment Assistance. 

10 ‘‘(3) Army Corps of Engineers of the Depart11 ment of Defense (Civil). 

12 ‘‘(4) Department of Defense (Military): 

13 ‘‘(A) Military Personnel. 

14 ‘‘(B) Operations and Maintenance. 

15 ‘‘(C) Procurement. 

16 ‘‘(D) Research, Development, Test, and 

17 Evaluation. 

18 ‘‘(E) Military Construction (MILCON) and 

19 Family Housing. 

20 ‘‘(F) Management Funds. 

21 ‘‘(G) Other Department of Defense Pro22 grams. 

23 ‘‘(5) Department of Education: 

24 ‘‘(A) Elementary and Secondary Edu25 cation. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Higher Education. 

2 ‘‘(6) Department of Health and Human Serv3 ices: 

4 ‘‘(A) Administration for Children and 

5 Families. 

6 ‘‘(B) Public Health and Medical Assist7 ance. 

8 ‘‘(C) Public Health Emergency Fund. 

9 ‘‘(7) Department of Homeland Security: 

10 ‘‘(A) Federal Emergency Management 

11 Agency: 

12 ‘‘(i) Emergency Declarations. 

13 ‘‘(ii) Fire Management Assistance 

14 Grants. 

15 ‘‘(iii) Major Disaster Declarations. 

16 ‘‘(iv) Administrative Assistance. 

17 ‘‘(B) FEMA Missions Assignments by 

18 Federal Agency. 

19 ‘‘(C) Community Disaster Loan Program. 

20 ‘‘(8) Department of Housing and Urban Devel21 opment (HUD): 

22 ‘‘(A) Community Development Block 

23 Grants. 

24 ‘‘(B) Rental Assistance/Section 8 Vouch25 ers. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Supportive Housing. 

2 ‘‘(D) Public Housing Repair. 

3 ‘‘(E) Inspector General. 

4 ‘‘(9) Department of the Interior: 

5 ‘‘(A) Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

6 ‘‘(B) United States Fish and Wildlife Serv7 ice. 

8 ‘‘(C) National Park Service. 

9 ‘‘(D) Wildland Fire Management. 

10 ‘‘(10) Department of Justice: 

11 ‘‘(A) Legal Activities. 

12 ‘‘(B) United States Marshals Service. 

13 ‘‘(C) Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

14 ‘‘(D) Drug Enforcement Administration. 

15 ‘‘(E) Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms, and 

16 Explosives. 

17 ‘‘(F) Federal Prison System (Bureau of 

18 Prisons). 

19 ‘‘(G) Office of Justice Programs. 

20 ‘‘(11) Department of Labor: 

21 ‘‘(A) National Emergency Grants for Dis22 location Events. 

23 ‘‘(B) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 

24 Dislocated Worker Program. 

25 ‘‘(12) Department of Transportation: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Federal Highway Administration: 

2 Emergency Relief Program (ER). 

3 ‘‘(B) Federal Aviation Administration 

4 (FAA). 

5 ‘‘(C) Federal Transit Administration 

6 (FTA). 

7 ‘‘(13) Department of the Treasury: Internal 

8 Revenue Service. 

9 ‘‘(14) Department of Veterans Affairs. 

10 ‘‘(15) Corporation for National and Community 

11 Service. 

12 ‘‘(16) Environmental Protection Agency: 

13 ‘‘(A) Hurricane Emergency Response Au14 thorities. 

15 ‘‘(B) EPA Hurricane Response. 

16 ‘‘(C) EPA Regular Appropriations. 

17 ‘‘(17) The Federal Judiciary. 

18 ‘‘(18) Disaster Assistance Program of the Small 

19 Business Administration. 

20 ‘‘(19) Other authorities as appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(b) CONTENT.—The report shall detail the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(1) Overall amount of disaster-related assist24 ance obligations during the fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Disaster-related assistance obligations by 

2 agency and account. 

3 ‘‘(3) Disaster for which the spending was obli4 gated. 

5 ‘‘(4) Obligations by disaster. 

6 ‘‘(5) Disaster-related assistance by disaster 

7 type. 

8 ‘‘(6) Response and recovery spending. 

9 ‘‘(7) Mitigation spending. 

10 ‘‘(8) Spending in the form of loans. 

11 ‘‘(9) Spending in the form of grants. 

12 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—The report shall be 

13 made publicly available on the website of the Office of 

14 Management and Budget and should be searchable, sort15 able and downloadable.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap17 ters for chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘1126. Reporting of disaster-related assistance.’’. 

19 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 The reporting requirement under the amendment 

21 made by section 3(a) shall take effect with the budget sub22 mission of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 

23 United States Code, for fiscal year 2018. 

Æ 


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